Earth's Flowers

  Bee painting My daughter painted the Bee with acrylic paints, and we used it for our "Save the Bees" poster. We love Bees because we need them for pollination, especially my fruit trees. I try to set out different plants that bloom from early spring to late fall in order to attract them, as well as the hummingbirds! 

Purple Coneflower  The purple coneflower is called Echinacea purpurea. This flower plant attracts bees (pollinators - yea!), butterflies, and birds. The birds seem to spread them after they have eaten the seeds. Yes, you guessed it, through their droppings.  I actually bought a natural "medicine cabinet" set of seeds and this packet came with it. I love the look of these flowers and hopefully I will have more in my garden this year. If not, off to the nursery I will go and find a budding plant ready to plant!

Small Sunflower on sidewalk  Small or large, Sunflowers are so graceful and beautiful. They not only provide a colorful accent to our gardens, but they can feed us and our birds. It doesn't matter how many times I pull up the sunflowers and clear the dried blooms from the heads to get to the seeds, many will escape and start growing again all over my garden the following spring. I dig down underneath their roots and transplant them to an area large enough for them to grow with plenty of hot sun then will water them regularly. They love the sun and thirst for water! Last year we had at least 10-foot multi head sunflowers that were from my mammoth seeds.  Large heavily headed Sunflowers in my garden

 I went to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival last year and took a lot of pictures. This one was an overview of many different colors of tulips that were growing in rows. We loved all the colors and they displayed nicely against the landscape scene. It is too bad they don't last all year to appreciate but capturing them by camera keeps them alive somewhat!

Beautiful upright shrub that produces blooms throughout the summer. The blooms don't last very long at all, but new ones bud out and continue providing beautiful colors against the green leaves on the plant. I love Hibiscus shrubs. This is from my garden last year. I went to buy a pink one, but they said they only had white yet when it bloomed it was pink! Nice surprise, since that was really what I wanted. Maybe I will find a real white one to integrate into my garden, if I can find room!

  I love Rhododendrons, that I lovingly call Rhodies! A picture can say a thousand words about them. They are so beautiful blooming in the spring and stay evergreen all year long. I have seen some that were as big as trees with a blanket of blooms all over them. When they lose their blooms, you can pinch off the old bloom area, but I prefer to let nature just take its course and let it stay natural and grow. I may need to trim them back when they are too large for my yard but not now. It has been 4 years, and they are still relatively small and beautiful.